From Forced Flexibility to Forced Labour: The Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Finland

Abstract

beings for the purpose of forced labour in Finland. This thesis consists of a summary and four original articles. The theoretical framework is twofold. First, in order to contextualise the situation of migrant workers, the research addresses changes that globalisation has brought to the economy and the labour markets. Second, the research approaches the exploitation of migrant workers through the framework of corporate crime in order to explore why such crimes remain under-enforced. The overall research question that the four articles aims at answering is how trafficking in human beings for the purpose of forced labour and the exploitation of migrant workers is understood and recognised by the international community in international treaties, the State and control authorities, and how it is experienced by migrant workers themselves who are working in Finland. The data include international treaty documents, Finnish Government policy documents, interviews with representatives of crime control authorities, employers and trade unions in Finland, as well as interviews with exploited migrant workers. The data was analysed qualitatively. The research finds that the exploitation of migrant workers is structural within the framework of dual labour markets and the current economic and political framework. Exploitation is legitimised through the existing precarious and poor labour practices that disadvantageously affect migrant workers. This includes disadvantageous yet legal contractual practices that exploit the vulnerabilities of migrant workers. Exploitation is also made structural through a lack of adequate control and sanctions against those who exploit them. Exploitation is not adequately recognized and addressed by (crime) control authorities, partly resulting from complex and overlapping criminal provisions. The research suggests that the notions of the continuum and cumulation of exploitation could assist in conceptualising the dimensions of exploitation. Finally, the research proposes that the categorisation of ‘exploitative crimes and harms of the employer’ should be used within the framework of corporate crime research to expand the scope of corporate crimes to incorporate comprehensive infringements by employers of the rights of individual workers.